OGDEN -- Some owners of businesses that would be displaced by the Ogden River Redevelopment Project are frustrated by the city's indecision and extended deadlines for buying their properties.

Kevin Bryan is willing to give the city one more shot at buying his auto repair business but fears that the new time frame for finalizing the purchase by May 3 will be just another in the string of missed deadlines that has plagued the project since its inception in 2002.

"I'm tired of it," said Bryant, who owns Luckie's Auto Repair. "It's like waiting for a wedding. You don't know if the bride is going to be there until she walks down the aisle."

Bryant, along with nearly a dozen property owners, has agreed to extend purchase options with the Ogden Redevelopment Agency that are set to expire Friday.

Several business owners said they are frustrated by the uncertainty of whether the RDA will eventually buy their properties.

"It makes you kind of crazy because you never know from one minute to the next whether they are going to shut you down," said June Robinson, owner of Cedars Restaurant. "People have asked me whether we have already closed down."

Bill Wright, Ogden's community development manager, said, "We are working as fast as we can to get tenants for the project so that we can exercise the options and close on the properties. We appreciate the patience and partnership of property owners."

The RDA is hopeful that extending purchase options with property owners will buy time to persuade Ernest Health Inc. to buy four acres for $1.5 million for the construction of a 40-bed rehabilitation hospital.

Ernest Health took offense at questions asked by some City Council members last month, and announced it would not build the hospital at that site. City Council members apologized, and the company said it would resume discussions.

Bryant said he would like to see the hospital project succeed but won't grant the RDA another extension to buy his property beyond May 3.

If the deal falls through, his business will likely stay at its current location.

Bryant said the RDA has offered him $300,000 to $400,000 for his property and that it would cost about $290,000 to build a new shop, excluding the price of purchasing land.

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Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C3.